Patrick straightened, making a face at how he topped Grant’s height by two inches.
“Old enough,” Grant corrected. “You’ll always be my baby brother.”
“Who’s Faith?”
“Let’s talk about you. Why did you invite me for a beer if you’re sober?”
“Because it’s the socially polite thing to do. And because it’s good practice. And because I always feel a little stronger when I walk out of a bar still able to count backwards from one-hundred. Who’s Faith?”
Grant ignored his last Faith inquiry and focused on the glimmer of the good-natured kid his brother had once been. That made Grant smile.
They agreed to take separate cars and meet at Yuletide Spirits. Grant planned on walking from there to Faith’s and staying with her tonight, and he didn’t want anything interfering with that plan.
As he pulled out of the parking lot, he dialed Faith.
“Hey handsome,” she answered. “Hope you didn’t send any of the kids home with marks.”
“Not a one.”
“Good boy.”
And here came their first test. “So...my brother found me at the rink. We’re going to grab a beer.”
“Really?” She sounded surprised, but in a good way. Grant held his hopes back, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Which one?”
“Patrick.”
“That’s great.”
He was still waiting. “Why is that great? You don’t like my brothers.”
“I don’t like how your brothers act. I don’t know your brothers as people, so I couldn’t tell you whether I like them or not. And it’s great because I have no doubt you’ll be a positive influence for him. Have fun.”
He frowned, a little unsure what to do without conflict to deal with. “What are you doing?”
“Well,” she said, sounding far too chipper for a woman who’d been up all night, worked all day and been dealt two ginormous orgasms a couple of hours ago. “I finished making notes on the instructions I want to record over the video, and I just started putting supplies together for the festival. My back room looks like Parties Unlimited USA.”
He smiled. “I’ll help when I get there.”
“I’ve got it. You don’t get to see your family much and you don’t have much time left in town. Enjoy yourself.” A familiar bell rang in the background. “I’ve got to run to the front. I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
“Yeah. Sure. Bye.”
“Bye.”
Grant stopped at a red light behind his brother’s Mercedes SUV and frowned at his phone where it rested on his thigh. “Have fun?”
Where was the self-invitation to join them? The pissy attitude over him going out without her? The pouting?
“Enjoy myself?”
The light turned green and he continued toward town. Halfway there, he caught himself trying to twist her words into something negative. And laughed at himself, relieved he was making it up. “God, I’m an idiot.”
But that relief didn’t last long, because then he was thinking about her “You don’t have much time left in town”.
He really didn’t. The team was off for the holidays now, but they’d head back to practice in less than a week. Then they’d head into a grueling schedule of games, practices and special events, packed into nearly every day straight through the middle of June.
And Grant would be with them.